


Grounding

by lcdrsuperseal



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Basically what should have happened, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Post 9.01, Protective Danny "Danno" Williams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 13:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16409747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdrsuperseal/pseuds/lcdrsuperseal
Summary: “I just… want to… need to make sure that you’re still here.”Sort-of coda for 9.01.





	Grounding

**Author's Note:**

> I actually started to write this before it even aired, which shows how little life I have outside of work. Just a quick something, unbetad as always. Kudos & comments give me life. And yes, I don't really like the title either.

“Steve? Babe, you with me?” Danny asked as he knelt in front of Steve after removing his tac-vest, who continued to stare straight through him, slowly blinking when Danny gently squeezed his hand. “Hey, buddy.”

Steve instantly latched onto Danny, who winced at his vice-like grip but remained motionless as he kept his eyes fixed on his partner. Steve shuddered as he looked around at their surroundings, at Tani and Junior going to investigate the tanks control room, at Lou on the phone to HPD to get them down to process the scene, and at Kang’s body and those god awful pipes that were wrapped around his neck not even ten minutes ago floating in the water. Danny cocked his head to the side and sighed as he reached out with his free hand to cup Steve’s face and bring his attention back to him. Wiping the watery blood trails away with his thumb brought back the vision of seeing Greer climbing into the black car before it sped off, and it took every ounce of his being not to get out there right now, only stopping when he found her and put a bullet in her head to match Kang’s. But Danny could see that Steve needed him here, even though he proclaimed that he was fine after the ‘little brain scrub’ as he called it, so here he would stay.

With everyone else otherwise engaged in various parts of the chamber, Danny was the only to notice when Steve relaxed the strong grip he had on his hand, and that was all the warning Danny had before the SEAL wordlessly slumped forward and into his arms. He was almost knocked on his ass by the sudden addition of all 190lbs of Steve McGarrett, but Danny held his ground with a grunt.

“Woah, woah, hey, you okay?” Danny tried to pull Steve back to get a look at him, but he stubbornly shook his head in the crook of Danny’s neck. “Steve, babe, what’s up?”

“N’thng,” Steve mumbled, both hands exploring any inch of Danny they could reach. “I just… want to… need to make sure that you’re still here.”

And Danny got it. Truly, he did. The guy had been sensory deprived for around six hours, and he was still in that stupid bright suit that Danny suspected was designed to block out any sense of touch. So of course Steve needs to touch him - to  _ feel him  _ \- and fill his nose with the lingering smell of Danny’s aftershave, along with stimulating his other senses. But there’ll be another time for that, and that is the best part, Danny thought as he tightened his hold around him. Steve’s still with him, and they’ve got  _ more time  _ to enjoy each other.

“Trust me, you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future whether you like it or not, buddy.” Danny caught one of Steve’s wandering hands and placed it against his chest, directly over his heart. “Still here, okay?”

“Yeah,” Steve sniffed as he felt the comforting and grounding  _ lub-lub, lub-lub  _ of Danny’s heartbeat, “You’re here.”

The rest of the team shot worried glances in their direction when Steve sniffed again, but Danny shook his head and waved them off with a knowing look that said  _ I’ve got him, it’s all good.  _ It was a little too familiar to three years ago when he comforted a bloody Steve after his final confrontation with Wo Fat; too familiar for Danny’s liking.

“I love you, ‘kay?” Danny whispered as he pressed kisses into Steve’s bristly hair, “I love you so much. Just... promise me something?”

“Hmm?”

“Please don’t do anything like this again.” Steve bit his bottom lip as he focused on the rise and fall of Danny’s chest, and was about to open his mouth to reply when Danny spoke again and forced a weak chuckle out of him: “Especially in this ridiculous suit.”

They found a quiet corner of the scene once HPD had arrived and started to process everything, and wordlessly let Steve balance on him as he finally divested himself of the rubber suit. Danny had to bit the insides of his cheeks when he realised that Steve was naked underneath, that someone - probably Greer - had stripped an unconscious Steve of his clothes, that they'd seen Steve in a state normally reserved only for themselves.

* * *

Danny stood firm on his decision that Steve was going to the hospital. Steve said he was fine all the way to the Camaro, but as soon as he slumped into the passenger seat it was like the fight went out of him, and he spent the journey to Tripler picking at the spare clothes that Danny had dug out of the emergency bag that he always kept in the car.

“Danny, I just wanna go home-” Steve started to say as he was ushered through the double doors of the hospital's main entrance, but Danny raised an eyebrow when his partner stopped to rub at his throat. “Come on, that's from the pipes!”

“Yeah, the pipes that were around your neck  _ after _ you spent almost 6 hours in your head because you couldn't feel anything else, Steve.”

Steve was subjected to hours of tests and being poked and prodded, but was eventually released once the doctors concluded that there was no lasting damage. Knowing what Steve was like when it came to medical advice, they ignored him and told Danny the signs to watch out for, but that the best thing for Steve would be to sleep. Danny sighed at the irony; of course the one thing he should do is the one thing that is the most unlikely to happen anytime soon.

As soon as they stumbled through their front door they were met with a very excited Eddie, who showed his appreciation at his owners return by means of licking at a smiling Steve's hands until he scratched behind the dog’s ears. Danny noticed that his partner wasn't holding himself quite as tense as he continued to make a fuss of Eddie, and breathed a small sigh of relief as he watched Steve usher Eddie into the kitchen and give the dog his dinner.

“There ya go, buddy. Guess you missed me, huh?” Steve said as he placed the bowl on the floor.

“Hey, what about me?” Danny frowned as he leant against the kitchen countertop. “You think he didn't miss me?”

Steve rolled his eyes as he looked through his cupboards. “Yes Daniel, I'm sure the dog missed you too.”

Danny smirked at their normal banter, pleased that Steve felt okay enough to slip back into it as if nothing had happened. Not that the detective didn't think that Steve was still hiding behind his defences, but Danny imagined that getting Steve to talk or do anything tonight would be akin to pulling teeth.

“Whatcha looking for, babe?” Danny asked as Steve moved to open the fridge.

Steve sighed before running a hand down his tired face. “Dunno, I just… I guess I should eat  _ something,  _ but there's nothing here I want.”

Danny leant over and bumps his shoulder against Steve's. “Wanna order in?” he asked, and the small smile that crept onto Steve's face at the thought of doing just that did something weird to his chest. “Go shower and get fresh clothes on, alright? I'll sort dinner out.”

Eddie barked up at him as if he was on board with Danny’s plan, and Steve nodded in agreement as he drew Danny in for a kiss.


End file.
